Wahclella Falls is one of my favorite waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon to visit and take people.

Wahclella is at the midpoint of the well maintained trail that forms a 1.8-mile roundtrip. The falls are divided into upper and lower segments with a combined height of 350 ft. The upper section is not completely visible while the fully visible lower segment stands 60 feet in height as it thunders out of a narrow gorge carved through dark gray basalt. The plunge pool has a picturesque quality due to the surrounding natural walls that form a semi-circular rotunda extending from the falls to the main vantage point. As with most waterfalls in the Gorge, Wahclella does exhibit some seasonality of water flow. Interestingly, however, because Tanner Creek is sourced primarily by an underground spring, the flow is never dramatically affected by adverse weather. In 1915, Wahclella Falls was named after a nearby village of Native Americans. If you get an opportunity to visit Wahclella Falls, I advise bringing waders and hiking poles (and a dry sack) to have the option of getting less usual compositions. It can be shot early of late. Ideal shots are usually during gloomy cloudy days or even in the rain. Make sure you leave NO BELONGINGS of value in your vehicle due to an increase of dash and run thefts. This happened to me recently but fortunately no ones stuff was stolen.

Processing: this is a total of 14 images focus/depth of field bracketed. The first 7 would have sufficed but there was a lot of spray and some raindrops (and smudge marks) on the lens so I went ahead and ran all 14 through Photoshop CS6's Auto Align and then Auto Blend Layers. This was for all the land (non water) areas. One layer was then chosen for my favorite water texture and masked in manually. Most work was finished in ACR 7.2 and typical work was done in PS CS6.

Matt Anderson wrote:
Hey, want to do a print swop?
You pick one of mine, I sign and ship, you do the same for this image.
Pick whatever size you'd like ....

Thanks Matt. You do great work, so it would be an honor. Having said that, I process all my images first for web (as a loose trial run to learn about how they handle, get feedback...) and later I go back to scratch (softproofed in Raw and totally different calibration) for the fine art print. Right now, I am too busy with work until prob August 2013 before I will be getting on my exhibition prints. So, remind me and we have a deal!

I'm sorry Roman. I'd really be honored to shoot with you sometime. Honestly and unfortunately I have had almost no shooting time of my own for a long time, being busy with the workshops and just making a living. When I have any spare time, I will call! Right now that is looking like this coming summer.

Mark Metternich wrote:
I'm sorry Roman. I'd really be honored to shoot with you sometime. Honestly and unfortunately I have had almost no shooting time of my own for a long time, being busy with the workshops and just making a living. When I have any spare time, I will call! Right now that is looking like this coming summer.

I was just pokin at ya. When you have time....look me up. This year is gonna get stupid busy as I ramp up as well...and the next two years.....only crazier. So I totaly understand.

CarlG wrote:
Was just there in September - great depiction! I think I know your position for this shot. I wish I could have made it up and around that boulder!!

Nice work, Mark!!

Thanks very much Carl. It is my favorite spot to shoot it from. We wade across the river and then upstream to those boulders. The water never gets more than about lower chest high. Just got to go slow and make sure to have some hiking poles for support and a dry sack (or a bunch of glad bags). The other consideration is hypothermia. If the shakes start kicking in, it is best to go back to the car and get dry and warm again! Nothing sucks the endurance out of a person like hypothermia.

nice image, nice light!. Are you allowed down water level? When I was there there was tonnes of people at the lower viewing platform & I can only imagine what it would be like if people were allowed down there.

MikeW wrote:
nice image, nice light!. Are you allowed down water level? When I was there there was tonnes of people at the lower viewing platform & I can only imagine what it would be like if people were allowed down there.

Yes, a person can river cross and such. But if one does not know what they are doing they could easily lose their camera gear or worse! Few ever want to take the risk or want to get wet and cold, so almost no one river treks. Also, the positions you are referring to are either too deep or do not have a good view (or any view) of the waterfall, so there is likely little point in trying.